Gemini in Chrome gets new ‘Select from screen’ tool on desktop

Google is clearly enamored with the idea of using screen content to initiate searches, and over the years we’ve seen variation after variation on this same theme, from Google Lens to Circle to Search. Google’s never been a company to shy away from a little redundancy, and this week it’s sharing its very latest tool for pulling off this same sort of trick.

Earlier this week, Google updated its Gemini in Chrome support pages to introduce a new “Select from screen” tool for Chrome on the desktop. Accessing it is pretty straightforward, with users needing to first click “Ask Gemini,” then hitting the plus sign for Gemini’s Add menu. Here, you can finally choose “Select from screen” to start drawing a box around the content you want Gemini looking at. That include multiple screen areas at once. When you have them all highlighted, you can go ahead and present Gemini with your prompt.

That’s all there is to using it, and as you can likely see, this already feels very close to Chrome’s integration with Google Lens, only here leaning harder on Gemini, while Lens takes you to a regular Google Search page — to be fair, one where you can always still engage with AI Mode.

You obviously need to have Gemini in Chrome enabled to take advantage of this input feature, and that requires being signed in to the browser with a Google account — it won’t work in Incognito. If that’s a concern of yours, Chrome’s Lens support still works without an account, even in Incognito.

Chrome users should start seeing “Select from screen” available in their browsers as of now. If you’re not getting it (and you’re positive you have Gemini in Chrome enabled in the first place), make sure you’ve updated to the most recent Chrome 149 release.